How to go on Pilgrimage in a Lockdown and more inclusive by reaching out to each other, culminating in two Virtual Pilgrimages over the last 18 months.
Since the 1950s the monks of Ampleforth Abbey have led and accompanied a Pilgrimage to Lourdes every year, until now. Over the course of 2020 and 2021 the Ampleforth Lourdes Hospitalité sought ways to bring together this Pilgrimage family of Monks, Old Amplefordians, College Staff, Oblates, Assisted Pilgrims and friends of Ampleforth in new and digital ways. Whilst there has been great sadness due to not being in Lourdes together, this community has grown stronger
Every week up to 40 households have met on a Monday night via Zoom to pray the Rosary; there has been weekly Lectio Divina and the very popular “Thirsty Thursdays” every month, bringing together up to 90 people all around the globe for a short reflection from a Chaplain and plenty of time to catch up online.
Younger members of the Pilgrimage volunteered to help those less technically savvy to become Zoom and YouTube experts over the last 18 months. There was a team of helpers who spent 2020 reaching out to those Pilgrimage members and Assisted Pilgrims who have been at the most risk of isolation at the height of lockdown; checking in, praying together, and ensuring they know how important they are to our Ampleforth Pilgrimage family.
There was a special Mass on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, celebrated by Fr Edward from the Upper Chaplaincy, with 100 households tuning in. Fr Abbot celebrated Mass for us in March, live from the Abbey Church, with 300 people viewing in addition to the normal virtual congregation.
In 2020 we ran a lockdown fundraiser “A Pilgrimage for Pilgrimage”, where Hospitalité members collectively wheeled, walked, cycled, swam and ran the distance to Lourdes from their own homes. In the end we “made it” to Fatima… and back! This raised over £15,000 for future Pilgrimages and enabled us to make donations
60 | SUMMER 2021 | AMPLEFORTH DIARY
